Irina's Bad Mood
by toria55
Summary: Irina's in a bad mood and she's taking it out on Jack
1. Default Chapter

Title: Irina's Bad Mood  
Author: toria55  
Rating: G, just barely PG   
Spoilers: No spoilers, but this takes place after Phase One and before A Dark Turn.   
'Ship: Jack and Irina  
Disclaimer: Alias and all it's characters are owned by JJ Abrams and ABC. This story is not intended to infringe on the copyrights of the original creators. It is written for entertainment purposes only and is not intended for profit in any way.  
Author's note: Reviews welcomed.  
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Irina paced around her glass cell. She was starting to feel claustrophobic. The air was getting stale. Her occasional 15 minutes on the roof were actually making things worse. She missed the sounds and smell of a busy city. Every time she returned from the roof, she missed it even more. "Maybe this was a mistake," she thought to herself. "Why did I think I could survive yet another lock up?"   
  
Some days even the thought of seeing her daughter didn't seem as if it was a good enough reason to have surrendered her freedom. Today was one of those days. Her mind reeled as she daydreamed of ways to escape her confinement.   
  
As she paced her cell she heard the familiar sound of the buzzard signaling that someone was approaching. She heard the clang of metal, as the first set of bars slid open. She wondered who it could be. It was too early for her lunch and she hadn't gotten any advance notice of a debriefing.  
  
She stopped her pacing when she saw both Jack and Sydney enter the area she liked to refer to as her lobby. They both looked extremely serious. She wasn't in the mood for serious.   
  
Sydney noticed immediately that her mother seemed upset. "Hi, Mom. Is everything all right?"  
  
"Everything's just find dear. Why wouldn't it be?" She turned her back and looking around her cell she said, "I was thinking of doing some spring cleaning, maybe planting a garden." She turned back and said to Jack, "Hey Jack, why don't you be a dear and run over to Clyde's and pick me up a few beds of Impatiens."  
  
"Irina, I don't have time for games." Jack told her abruptly.   
  
"Oh? You don't have time for games," She said mocking him. "Well isn't that too bad. Seems I have all sorts of time for games."  
  
He just shook his head and started to tell her why they had come. "We need to ask you some questions about....".   
  
Before Jack had a chance to say why they had come, Sydney, thinking that her mother was acting this way because she was tired, asked, "Mom do you want to sit down?"  
  
"No, that's all I do in here." Irina grumbled back at her.  
  
"I'm sorry." Sydney answered her quietly.   
  
"So am I." Irina replied. She was still not ready to answer any of their questions so instead she addressed her daughter, "So, tell me something, Sydney."   
  
"Like what?" her daughter asked.  
  
"Like anything. Like what's the weather like today? Like what did you have for dinner yesterday? Like what songs do you listed to on the radio?" Then turning her head to see Jack looking at her with an unexpressive glare, she continued, "Like why your father's standing there giving me an attitude?"   
  
Sydney was stunned by her mother's behavior. She wasn't sure how to answer her. This was the first time her mother showed any signs of the stress she must be going through locked up all day, not knowing what is really going on in the world.   
  
Before Sydney had a chance to respond, Jack snapped at her, "Irina, what is your problem?"  
  
"I have no problem!" She snapped backed at him. Then just wanting to get this meeting over with she demand of him, "What are you here for?"   
  
"We came to brainstorm with you on where Arvin may have taken Emily and what story he could possibly have thought up to convince her to go into hiding with him." Jack informed her.  
  
With her bad mood still in full swing Irina answered him, "I don't know, maybe Emily has been in on it with him all along. You know, I never did think she was the innocent little waif she made herself out to be. That monstrosity of a house she ended up with was a long way from the apartment they started out in." Then making sure she had Jack's full attention, she added, "Don't think she wouldn't do anything to hold onto that lifestyle."   
  
Jack felt obligated to defend Emily. "Emily is not Arvin. She just believed in him. We all know it's possible to trust someone so much that you would have no reason to question her actions or loyalty."   
  
Irina didn't miss the fact that Jack said 'her' actions and loyalty. She knew he was referring to himself, but she decided to ignore that remark for the time. She continued, instead with her argument that Emily may not be completely innocent. She reminded him of what Emily had told Sydney, "She told Sydney that she knew Arvin didn't work for a bank and that she knew he was with SD-6."  
  
"Yes she did, but she also believed that SD-6 was part of the CIA." Jack continued with Emily's defense.  
  
Irina was getting more annoyed with her estranged husband. "You're sure of that! Maybe she just told that to Sydney because that was the first phase of their escape plan."   
  
Jack was not sure why Irina had decided to attack Emily. He always sympathized with her. He felt she was living a life of lies with Arvin, just as he had lived with Irina. There were so many times that he wanted to tell her to leave and get as far away from Arvin as she could, but he knew that she would never believe him and that even if she did, Arvin would never let her go.   
  
Now it was Jack's turn to go on the attack, "Although Arvin Sloane may not hold the title of the world's best liar, he is in fact right up there with the best of you. All he did was invent a good enough story to convince Emily to run with him. I've known her for a long time and she isn't the type of woman that would..."  
  
Before he could finish his commentary on Emily Sloane's virtue, Irina crossed her arms and shook her head, "Oh yea Jack, you're the expert on knowing how to read women and what they want."  
  
"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" Jack yelled, raising his voice for the first time.   
  
Irina was more then willing to tell him what she meant. "Look at us! Ten years of living together and you never had a clue. Your problem is that you're too naive and trusting when it comes to women. You don't know when they're using you."   
  
Seeing that this visit was not going well, Sydney felt it was her obligation to jump in and cool things off. "Listen you two, we came here for one specific reason and it was to discuss..."  
  
Although Agent Sydney Bristow was allowed to referee on their mission to India, this argument was something different and neither Jack nor Irina was willing to end it before it was over. They both turned to their daughter and in their own words told her to keep "keep out of it."  
  
"Don't talk to her that way." Jack warned Irina.   
  
"Don't tell me how to talk to my daughter, I'll talk to her anyway I damn well please." Irina snapped back at him.   
  
TBC....... 


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: see chapter 1  
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CHAPTER 2  
  
Irina turned to Sydney who was still stunned by the harshness of how her parents were talking to each other. Then she heard her mother speak directly to her, "You should have seen how women flirted with your father."  
  
"What are you talking about? I never flirted with women." Jack said, feeling utterly lost about what Irina was accusing him of.   
  
Irina put her hands on the side of her head and clutching her hair she turned and screamed at Jack, "I didn't say you flirted you with them, you idiot! I said they flirted with you. You were just too damn naive to notice." When she used the word naive, yet again, she made sure she said it loud enough for him to not miss it.   
  
"What is that suppose to mean?" Jack was finding it very difficult to keep his emotions under control. .  
  
"You know damn well what I'm talking about. Those damn teacher dinners or your neighborhood parties." She turned again and directed her comments to her daughter. "Oh Sydney, you should have seen those backyard parties. They were the worst. All those unhappy American housewives making moves on my husband," she said jabbing her index finger into her chest and then pointing the same finger at Jack she added, "and he was too damn naive to notice."  
  
Jack jumped to his own defense, "I never touched any of them Irina. I told you they were just being social able. That's what you do at parties, for god sake."  
  
"Oh yea. Just being social able, that's why I caught that Bracken women doing a striptease for you."   
  
"Oh no," Jack thought to himself, not that argument again. In as calm a voice as he could muster, he said, "I told you more than once, she wasn't striping. She was taking a belly dance class and she was just showing me what she learned. What was I supposed to do? Tell her I didn't want to see it because my wife wouldn't like it."  
  
Then talking directly to Sydney and hoping to get another woman's understanding of what she had to endure with her husband, Irina said, "See what I had to put up with. Why was she belly dancing for my husband and not her own?"  
  
Sydney quickly realized that she was witnessing the continuation of a very old argument. One that she was sure her father never enjoyed. Wanting to distance herself from this argument she just shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "I don't know."  
  
Irina continued her verbal assault on Jack, "But, Debbie Bracken wasn't the worse. The worse was that tramp, Bonnie Sullivan. She was real social able, wasn't she Jack?" Bonnie Sullivan was a voluptuous, young woman, living with her divorced sister in a house across the street from the Bristow's.   
  
Jack stood silent as Irina continued her ranting. He wondered how a conversation about Arvin Sloane's whereabouts turned into an argument about old neighbors.   
  
When his attention was brought back to the conversation he heard Irina say something about Bonnie drooling all over him.  
  
"What are you talking about?" He inquired, completely mystified about what she was getting at.   
  
"I'm talking about the day you changed her flat tire."  
  
Jack easily recalled that event. It was something he thought of every time he saw someone changing a flat. To this day he doesn't understand what 'Laura' was so upset about. He found it equally dumbfounding that 'Irina' would be just as upset. "Irina, her tire was flat, it took 10 minutes to change it. What was the big deal?"  
  
"That outfit she was wearing, that's what the big deal was."  
  
"What was wrong with what she was wearing?" Jack wondered.   
  
Again Irina turned her attention to Sydney who hadn't said a word since being silenced by her parents. "You should have seen her Sydney. She 's in a pair of heels, hot pants and a halter-top. Your father, being the Boy Scout that he is, was changing her tire and he had no idea of what she really wanted from him."  
  
Then turning her attention back to Jack, she continued, "I know she timed the whole thing for when I wouldn't be there, but I wrecked her little plan and came home early."   
  
Turning back to Sydney she continued with her recall of the event. "When I drove up I saw her crouched inches from your father's face; she was making sure he knew how she wanted to repay him for the favor."  
  
Before Irina could continue with her version of what happened, Jack recalled a few details himself. He also addressed Sydney, "And you should have seen what your mother did. She squealed the tires into the driveway, making sure everyone in the neighborhood knew she was home. She then got out of the car and stood in the driveway, with you on her hip. You were about three and you were screaming about something and she stood there holding you until I was done and all the while you were screaming."   
  
Irina gave Jack an evil grin. Without taking her eyes off him, she said in the sweetest voice she could, "But don't worry, Sydney, I made sure she got what she deserved."   
  
"What did you do?" Jack demanded.   
  
Still with the evil grin she said, "think about it, Jack."   
  
"Think about? I don't want to think about it. It was almost 25 years ago." Jack thought to himself.   
  
He rubbed his forehead with his left hand and thought back to the event. He then started to list the details that he could recall. "I remember that you wouldn't tell me what you were so mad about. I remember that you didn't talk to me for the rest of the day. That you slept on the couch. Then the next morning you woke me....." He started to describe the method she used to wake him, but being that Sydney was still present, he just said, "you apologized."   
  
He wasn't sure what else happened.   
  
"And," Irina said, encouraging him to think some more.  
  
"And?" Then he remembered. He remembered that the next morning all four of Bonnie Sullivan's tires were flat. Someone had slashed them during the night. Jack had always assumed the same person that caused the original flat, slashed them also. But, he felt he should keep out of it, so he never asked. Now he looked at Irina and for the first time realized that she was the one who slashed the tires. "You're the one that slashed her tires." He said pointing at her.  
  
Irina rolled her eyes and nodded her head in frustration. "Geez Jack, you just now figured that one out, didn't you?" She then smacked the palm of her right hand against the glass wall and said, "Listen, I warned that bitch to stay away from you and she wasn't listening."   
  
He had enough. It was obvious that his original purpose for this meeting was not going to be accomplished today. Without hiding his irritation, he said, "You know, I never liked having this argument with you 20 years ago, when I thought you had a right to it. I sure as hell am not going to stand here now, defending myself all over again." Then glancing at both Irina and Sydney he announced, "This meeting is over."  
  
While Jack was waiting for the guards to open the gates, Irina continued with her verbal tirade at him.   
TBC...... 


	3. Chapter 3

"Go ahead Jack, walk away, it's easier than staying to face the truth." Irina called at him as he waited for the security gate to open.   
  
As the gate started to rise Jack returned to confront her. "And what truth would that be, Irina?"  
  
As she placed her hands on the glass wall she leaned into it and said calmly, "That if it wasn't for me, you would have let those women walk all over you and you would have been too f**king stupid to realize what they were doing."   
  
There was something in his eyes that scared Sydney, but Irina stood firm. He clenched his jaw and took two deep breaths though his nose and then he punched the glass and said, "Like I was too f**king stupid to realize what you were doing?"  
  
Irina and Sydney both jumped when his fist made contact with the glass, but Irina didn't lose a beat. "That's right Jack. If you weren't so f**king trusting none of this would have ever happened," she said gesturing to her surroundings. "How the hell did you never realize what I was up to?"   
  
"You know what," Sydney spoke for the first time since being silenced, "I think I should leave. This is something you need to talk about in private."  
  
"In private!" Irina said, surprised that her daughter would forget where they were. "There's no privacy in here Sydney. Everything we just said has been recorded and viewed by who knows how many people in the op center. You might as well stay and hear the rest of it."  
  
Then she looked back at Jack and asked, "So Jack, are you going to answer my question?"  
  
Jack had also forgotten about the presence of the camera. He didn't care who might have witnessed Irina's temper tantrum, at his expense; but answering this question was very personal for him. He spent six months in solitary while inquisitors asked him that very same question. He imagined even Sydney must have wondered why he never realized what she was up to.   
  
Jack looked up at the camera, then his gaze panned to Sydney and back to Irina.  
  
While he was contemplating how best to answer the question, Irina's impatience started to show again. "I'm waiting, Jack." She said with her arms folded across her chest.   
  
Her arrogance gave him the fuel he needed to answer the question.   
  
"I did notice," he said in a very composed voice. Then gesturing with his hands he looked downward as though he was pointing at something, "I noticed... I noticed... papers shuffled on the desk or out of order in my briefcase." Then he looked up; "Sometimes you would ask me a question that made me wonder why you even knew enough to ask it. Sometimes, I knew you weren't where you said you would be."  
  
If he saw these things, she wondered, then why didn't he ever confront her? "Then why, Jack, why the hell didn't you say anything? Why didn't you find out why the papers were moved or why I knew what questions to ask?" Then her voice cracked as she fought to keep her emotions under control, "Why didn't you ever ask where I had been?"   
  
He shrugged his shoulders and shaking his head, he told her, "Because you were my wife. The mother of my child." He swallowed the lump of emotion that was lodged in his throat as well, "Because I loved you with all my heart and soul."  
  
He looked past her, remembering back so long ago. "When I saw something that was wrong, I explained it away; or I convinced myself that my job was making me paranoid and that I had no right to think, for even an instant, that my wife would betray me."   
  
He looked down again, as though he was embarrassed to say any more, but he wanted her to know the answer to her question. He looked up and inhaled a lung full of air. As he exhaled, he continued with his answer, "Irina, I don't know if you can understand this, but the answer to your question is that... is that, I trusted you."   
  
He paused, allowing her a chance to comprehend what he had said and then he added, "I guess, in the end you were right, I was too ....trusting." He decided not to be as descriptive as she had been earlier.   
  
He was right also to assume that his answer would be too simple for Irina to accept. She had never given anyone unconditional trust and surly, she didn't deserve it in return. She could only think of one thing to say, "Then you were a fool, Jack."   
  
He looked directly into her eyes and calmly said, "Finally something we agree on, Irina."   
  
With that, he decided that this visit was finally over. He turned to leave. "Are you coming," he asked Sydney.  
  
"In a minute a Dad." She brushed her hand against his arm as he walked past her.   
  
TBC..... 


	4. Chapter 4A

Hope you enjoy this and thanks for the reviews.  
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CHAPTER 4A  
  
Sydney turned her back to her mother as the two of them watched Jack walk though the two security gates and then disappear around the corner.   
  
Irina waited for Sydney to turn around. She was prepared for whatever verbal scolding her daughter was preparing to throw at her.   
  
Once her father was out of sight Sydney slowly turned and faced her mother. "Did you enjoy that?"  
  
"No, of course not," Irina answered her.   
  
"I just don't understand you," Sydney said, shaking her head. "Eight months ago, when you walked in here, Dad didn't want me talking to you, and now here he is willing to come and talk to you himself. To ask for your help. The help you volunteer to give. And this is what you do to him?"   
  
Irina gave no reply.   
  
Sydney continued, "You know, I don't know of anyone besides you, that he would allow to talk to him that way. For god sake, not even Sloane would have the nerve to say some of things that you say to him."  
  
"I'm sorry, Sydney. I really don't mean to hurt him, its just that he was always so damn trusting and it use to make me so mad. Just like now; why is it so hard for him to believe that maybe Emily was in on the getaway with Sloane?"  
  
"I don't know, Mom." Sydney said, "The father I grew up with, never trusted anyone. Expect for you, it seems."  
  
"I never asked for his trust." Irina informed her daughter.  
  
Sydney let out a sigh of frustration and said, "You just don't get it, do you Mom? He loved you. You didn't have to ask for his trust, you didn't have to ask for anything, he just gave it all to you."  
  
Once again Irina had no reply.   
  
"And how did you repay him?" It wasn't really a question as Sydney already had the answer. "Mmmm? By ripping his heart out? And now, just as he starts to heal, you start ripping him apart all over again."  
  
"Sydney, he'll be okay." She said it more for her own benefit than for Sydney's. "It's just that being caged up sometimes... I think I'll go insane. Jack was just an easy target, today."  
  
"I know it wasn't fair." Irina continued, apologetically. "When you see him, tell him I said I am sorry." Then she gave a half smile and cocked her head to the side and said, "I always said I was sorry after throwing one of my temper tantrums."  
  
"Did you play the jealous wife often?" Sydney asked, still upset with her mother.  
  
"I was never jealous." Irina said, still denying the obvious. "I told you, I would just get upset because he never realized what those women were really after."   
  
"Oh Mom, come on." Sydney said, "Dad's a nice looking man and all, but I find it hard to believe he was the neighbor Don Juan."   
  
Still trying to convince her daughter that her issue wasn't one of jealously, she continued,   
"You don't know how your father was back then, Sydney. It wasn't just his looks that attracted women and it wasn't just women who liked him. He had a way about him that made everybody like him. I think it was because he was such a great listener. He was the person everyone told their problems to. He would let them talk to him for hours and he just listened and never judged. People would take advantage of that and it would just make me angry, but it never bothered him."  
  
"There were other things though, that drew people to him. He was a great story teller. Everyone loved listening to him tell stories." Irina smiled as she recalled some of his stories. "He could tell some of the most outrageously funny stories."   
  
Irina's eyes sparkled as she recalled more details of what made Jack so popular during their time together. "And his laugh, he had a contagious laugh. Whenever he laughed everyone in the room laughed along with him. And his voice. He had a wonder voice. He use to sing, I bet you didn't know that, did you?"  
  
While Irina was busy reminiscing about her husband's attributes, she didn't notice that the expression on Sydney's face had become somber. When she did notice she asked with concern, "What's wrong?"   
  
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Sydney screamed at her mother. "Your right, I didn't know that Dad use sing. I never heard him sing, or laugh or tell outrageously funny stories."   
  
"I'm sorry." Irina said, realizing that it was her fault that her daughter was deprived of these things.   
  
Now it was Sydney's turn to reminisce about her early years with Jack Bristow. "The Dad I grew up with only talked to me when he had too. He never asked me how my day was or how I felt about anything. Do you know that I have no recall of ever kissing or being kissed by my father?"  
  
TBC.... 


	5. Chapter 4B

Chapter 4B  
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It was impossible for Irina to miss the sullen look that appeared in her daughter's eyes. She asked the obvious, "It was lonely for you, growing up, wasn't it?"  
  
Sydney gave a slight tilt of her head, "Sometimes," she replied.   
  
Jack's relationship with Sydney was a mystery to Irina. She knew that he would be devastated first by her death and then by the truth of who she was, but she thought that Sydney would be his saving grace. She never imagined that he would shut her out the way that he did.   
  
"He loved you so much." She wanted to reassure her daughter. "There were so many nights that I would find him in your room, just sitting beside your bed, watching you sleep. He'd say, 'She's so precious Laura. It scares me to think of what her world will be like when she grows up. I just want to protect her from ever getting hurt.'"   
  
This memory made Irina smile. "I'd grab his hand and say, 'Come on Jack, let her sleep. Nothings going to hurt her tonight.' Then he'd kiss you on the forehead and say, 'sweet dreams, precious'."   
  
This antidote explained something that Sydney recalled from her childhood. "I use to have dreams about someone watching me sleep, only sometimes it felt like more than a dream. When I was around thirteen, I told Dad about it." Sydney looked down and then back up at her mother, "It never happened again, after I told him."   
  
They both realized that it was never a dream.   
  
Since surrendering herself, Irina hadn't had many opportunities to ask Sydney about Jack's parenting methods. She thought she would take advantage of the current situation. "Did he set very many rules for you?"  
  
"No, not really. The only real rule was what time I had to be home." Sydney recited her schedule as though it was permanently imbedded in her memory. "Until I was sixteen I had to be home right after school. When I turned sixteen I had to be home by seven during the week, unless there was a school related activity, and by eleven on the weekends."   
  
"Oh my, eleven o'clock. What did you think about that?" Irina asked.   
  
"It didn't matter what I thought about it; I was home by eleven." Then Sydney smiled broadly, "except once."   
  
It was obvious that Sydney's smile meant that something significant occurred, involving her curfew. "What did you do?" Irina asked.   
  
Sydney recounted the details of that forgettable evening. "I was almost seventeen. I hadn't seen or talked to Dad in over a week. One of the kids was moving away and there was a big going-away party for him. I had made up my mind that I was going to ignore the curfew."   
  
Sydney shook her head as she continued to recall the details of that evening. "I actually planned on being home by midnight, but I lost track of the time. It was about 12:30 and I was sitting with some friends, when all of sudden everyone stopped talking. I turned around and there was Dad. He just looked down at me and said, in that authoritarian tone of his, 'I'll wait for you in the car.' Then he turned and left."   
  
Irina laughed sympathetically, "Oh, no Sydney, what did you do?"  
  
"I was so embarrassed. I just said good-bye and followed him out to the car."   
  
"Did he lecture you?" Irina inquired.  
  
Sydney shook her head and said, "no, neither of us said a word all the way home."  
  
"That was the end of it then?" Irina asked.  
  
"Pretty much, except I did a lot of door slamming for the next couple weeks and I played my stereo extra loud, whenever he was home."   
  
"Oh, poor Jack," Irina said, imagining Jack coping with an angry teenager.   
  
Sydney continued with her story. "One day, he was in his den and I had to have him sign my report card." Then imitating her father she said, "When I was leaving the den, he said 'would you mind slamming the door on your way out.'" Sydney laughed and told her mother, "My door-slamming phase ended that night."   
  
As she stood and talked with her daughter, Irina's feeling of isolation started to slowly fade away. She wanted to continue this conversation, but she was afraid of stepping over the emotional boundary that Jack and Sydney had drawn, regarding her relationship with them.   
  
She decided to venture into dangerous territory. "How about boyfriends? How did he handle that?" Irina asked.  
  
"I really didn't have any serious boyfriends in high school." Sydney told her mother. "I was too busy with schoolwork. I had to get straight A's, so that Dad would notice me."  
  
Irina was sure that Jack noticed everything that Sydney did. She also knew that a teenager, desperately looking for parental approval, could do some reckless things. "When getting a perfect report card didn't work, what did you do?"   
  
Sydney gave a devilish grin, "Well, when I was seventeen I did date a guy named Razor."   
  
"Razor?" Irina was unsure if she heard correctly. She couldn't imagine her daughter being interested in anyone named Razor.   
  
"His real name was Craig or Greg or Gary or something like that," Sydney said trying to recall his actual name. "He was twenty and wore a ragged leather jacket and a rolled bandana around his head."  
  
"I'm going to assume you didn't really like Razor." Irina commented.  
  
Sydney raised her shoulders as though a chill had descended on her, "God, no. He made my skin crawl. I just wanted to get some kind of reaction out of Dad."  
  
"And did you?" Irina asked.  
  
"Not at first," Sydney answered, "but, one afternoon he came home and caught us drinking beer in the backyard."  
  
Irina was sure that Sydney would not have been that careless, unless she wanted to get caught. "I assume you planned that out?"   
  
"Oh, yea." Sydney said as she repeated her prior devilish grin. "I knew he would be home early because he was leaving on a trip and he had to come home for his bags."   
  
"What did he do, when he saw what you were doing?" Irina asked curiously.   
  
"He came outside and there were two cans of beer left, sitting on the table." Sydney held up her hands to demonstrate what happened next. "He picked up the cans and squeezed them until they exploded. The beer sprayed all over the three of us."   
  
Even after all these years, she trembled as she recalled the details of that afternoon. "He tossed the cans on the table and told me, in that controlled tone of his, 'clean up this mess.' Then he walked in the house and left for his trip."  
  
"And how did Razor react to all that?" Irina asked.  
  
Sydney shook her head as she recalled Razor's reaction. "He just sat there with his eyes bulging out of his head. Dad never once looked at him, but as soon as he walked into the house Razor said he had to go, and he left."   
  
"I heard from him three days later. He called to tell me that he was leaving on a trip. It seems that someone approached him with an offer to work as a deckhand on a yacht that was going on a cruise to Mexico."   
  
"You think your dad had something to do with the job offer?" Irina asked.   
  
Sydney answered her, "It wasn't even a thought at the time, but now I'm sure he did. The closest Razor ever came to knowing how to be a deckhand is that he worked as a dishwasher down near the docks. What are the odds of someone approaching him with a job offer like that?"  
  
Sydney continued, "Once I found out that Dad didn't really sell airplane parts, I knew he made the arrangements."  
  
"How did you feel about that?" Irina asked her.  
  
"At the time, I was just glad to have Razor out of my life." She smiled warmly at her mother; "Now, it's nice to know that Dad really was watching out for me."   
  
"I guess between the two of us, we've given him his fair share of torment." Irina observed.  
  
"Yea, I guess we have." Sydney agreed.   
  
Then recalling the prior argument that her parents had, Sydney asked, "So you really slashed that women's tires?"  
  
Irina smiled and cocked her head; "She never bothered him after that."   
  
Sydney grinned at her mother and said playfully, "Well, it's a good thing for her that you weren't jealous."  
  
Irina grinned back at her daughter. "Well, maybe I was just a little."   
  
"I should be going," Sydney told her mother.   
  
"You won't forget to tell him that I said I was sorry?"   
  
"No, I won't." Sydney reassured her.   
  
"And tell him that I'll think about what Sloane could have said to Emily and where they might be." Irina added.  
  
"Ok, I'll come back tomorrow and see what you come up with." Sydney said as she walked away.  
  
tbc....  
TBC.... 


	6. Chapter 5A

Chapter 5A  
  
Director Kendall was curious to see what progress Agents Jack and Sydney Bristow were having with their unacknowledged federal prisoner. He was anxious to find out if she had any input on where Arvin and Emily Sloane could be hiding.   
  
He turned on the security monitor just as the prisoner was saying something about someone doing a striptease. Then he heard the ever stoic Jack Bristow start to do something that sounded an awful lot like a husband attempting to defend his actions.   
  
As this was occurring Agent Michael Vaughan walked by. "Vaughn, come here. I think you'll like this." Kendall called to him.   
  
Agent Vaughn stopped and viewed the monitor. The two men laughed out loud when the prisoner referred to Agent Bristow as a Boy Scout.   
  
This laughter caught the attention of Agent Eric Weiss who was passing by with two female computer analysts. "What's so funny?" Weiss asked.  
  
"Check this out," Vaughn told him.  
  
Weiss and the two females joined in on the viewing of the performance that was occurring in the security section.   
  
Although they all highly respected Agent Bristow, he also intimated them. As a result, they found the verbal tirade that was being thrown at him both astonishing and amusing. That is, until the prisoner pointed out that everything they just said was probably being observed by personnel in the op center.   
  
The prisoner also asked Agent Bristow the question that they had all wondered about. This agent, that was such a brilliant strategist, how could he possibly have been deceived by someone that he was so close to?   
  
The small group became very somber when Agent Bristow looked into the camera, then at his daughter, and then back at the prisoner. They realized that he was actually going to answer her question. They also realized that they were now ease dropping on a family that was about to discuss a very intimate part of their lives.   
  
All of a sudden, they really didn't want to know the answer, not like this. Thankfully Director Kendall said "Alright people, the shows over. I think we all have work to do." With that the small group dispersed and went back to work.   
  
After leaving the security section Jack Bristow entered the operational center. All he wanted to do was put this latest brainstorm session with Irina Derevko, completely out of his thoughts.   
  
As he entered the op center he noticed that people tended to avoid him, even more than usual, or was that just his imagination? He tried to convince himself that he didn't care who in the op center may have witnessed the confrontation. He already knew that his relationship with Irina was office gossip. What difference did it make if they had one more segment of his life to gossip about?  
  
As he approached his office Director Kendall called out to him. Kendall seemed a bit uneasy. "Listen Jack, about your meeting with Derevko just now; I thought you'd like to know that no one heard your answer, to her question." Then he patted him on the shoulder and walked away before Jack could reply.   
  
Jack admitted to himself that he was relieved to know that at least part of his private life was still private. He entered his office and immediately got back to work.  
  
About twenty minutes after entering his office he heard a soft knock on his door. He turned in his chair to see Sydney.   
  
"Can I come in?" She asked.  
  
He knew what she wanted to talk about, but he wasn't interested. He had already put the incident behind him.   
  
"Sydney, I'm busy right now.' He told her.  
  
"Oh no," she thought to herself, "you're not brushing me off that easy." She entered his office and closed the door.   
  
He repeated his answer to her, "Sydney, I said I was busy."   
  
"Dad..."  
  
He interrupted her before she could continue, "Sydney, I don't want to talk about your mother."   
  
"She said to tell you she was sorry." Sydney said, ignoring his comment.   
  
"Noted." Was his only reply.   
  
"Dad...."   
  
"Not now, Sydney." This time he didn't hide his irritation.   
  
Fine, if he wanted to play stubborn, then so would she. "Not now? Then when?" she asked harshly. "Maybe at dinner one night? But, how may would you cancel, before you actually showed up? Or would you ever show up?"   
  
"All you've ever done is shut me, out all your life. Well, you know what? I'm tied of it." She said as she sat down in the chair opposite him.   
  
That hurt. She could see it in the way he lifted his shoulders and straightened his back. He was bracing himself for another attack.   
  
As quickly as she lost her temper, she apologized. "Dad, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."  
  
He didn't say anything. He just looked at her. She was right, he did spend a lifetime shutting her out, but it was never intentional. After he found out about who his wife really was, the only way that he could cope with life was to bury himself in his work. Right or wrong, he believed that the best way to protect his daughter, from the dangers of his work, was to keep her at a safe distance. He thought she understood all of that.  
  
It was hard for him to share his emotions with anyone, but if that was what she wanted, then he would try. "Sydney, I'm sorry. It's just that Irina's outbursts no longer affect me. I'm no longer that naive husband of hers."   
  
"I know Dad," She said, with a smile. "But, I was thinking about Mom's jealously. I think that maybe she acted that way because she was insecure."  
  
Jack let out a small laugh, "Insecure? Irina Derevko has never been insecure, about anything, a day in her life."  
  
"Maybe Irina Derevko was never insecure, but Laura Bristow certainly was." Sydney commented.   
  
He couldn't believe that she would separate the two women. "Sydney,' he said as he raised his voice, "They're the same person. Don't ever forget that."   
  
"I know they're the same person." She assured her father. "But, did you ever hear about actors who get so involved in a role, that they become the character that they're performing? That's what Mom was doing. She was playing a part."   
  
Sydney continued to try and explain the difference between the two women. "Irina Derevko was the person that conspired against you and betrayed the both of us. If she lost everything, it didn't matter to her. But, I believe that Laura Bristow liked the life the two of you created."   
  
She wanted him to understand why Laura acted the way she did. "You see Dad; everyone one around you was real. Everyone except Laura Bristow. That's why she was jealous of those women. She knew that someday she would be gone and they would still be there. She was fighting to keep what she had, for as long as she could."   
  
He shook his head. This is what he was afraid of, that she would get caught up in Irina's web of deceit. "That's a nice fantasy Sydney, but don't fool yourself into believing it. One fool in the family is enough."   
  
She couldn't believe how stubborn he could be. "Dad, there's only one reason a wife would be so possessive of her husband."  
  
"Don't say it." He told her. There was no way that he was willing to accept that love played any part in Derevko's relationship with him.  
  
"All right, I wouldn't say it. But you know how you said that you saw things that weren't right? Did you ever think that maybe she wanted you to catch her?"   
  
tbc ... 


	7. Chapter 5B

Chapter 5B   
  
Chapter 5B  
Jack looked down at his desk and reflected on her question. He thought about his confrontation with Irina just now. He recalled the curiosity in her voice, when she asked him, 'How the hell did you never realize what I was up to?'.   
  
Over the last twenty years, whenever he thought about Irina and her betrayal, the notion that she wanted to be caught was never even considered.   
  
Now that Sydney has suggested it, he realized that some of the carelessness that he saw could have been done deliberately. Is it possible that she wanted to get caught? Was it something that she was doing subconsciously? How ironic! Laura wanted to get caught and he did everything he could to ignore his suspicions about her.  
  
"Dad? You okay?" Sydney asked.  
  
He looked up and answered her question as best he could. "It's possible that a part of her wanted to get caught." Then he paused and inhaling a short breath, he added, "but that doesn't exonerate anything that she did."   
  
Sydney realized that the wall her father had built, to keep his emotions locked in, was as strong as ever. She was not going to convince him that maybe her mother had some feelings for him and their marriage.   
  
"Just do me one little favor," she asked him. "Don't be too upset with how she was today. I think she was just having a bad day. You know she's all alone in that cell with no link to the outside world. It has to be hard on her sanity."   
  
He didn't answer her, but he did admit to himself that a person like Irina couldn't survive forever, in a lockup. The woman he remembered was a free sprit. She never sat still. She was always doing something or going somewhere. He conceded that her confinement probably was wearing on her sanity.   
  
When he didn't reply, Sydney knew that it was time to leave. "I guess I should get back to work." While getting up to leave, Sydney let him know that Irina said she would think about Sloane and Emily. "I told her I'd see her tomorrow. I'll let you know what she has to say."  
  
He still didn't reply. She headed for the door, but turned back when he called her name. "Sydney, I'd like you to do something for me."   
  
"Sure." She answered him.  
  
"You'll have to get it cleared with Kendall first." He hesitated before going on. He was debating, with himself, whether or not he should do it. "No one can know that I had anything to do with this, they'll read things into it that aren't there."   
  
"Ok." Sydney was anxious to hear what he wanted her to do.  
  
"I want you to send her flowers," he told her.   
  
It was a real challenge for Sydney not to over react to this request. "Flowers?" She thought to herself. "Jack Bristow wants to send Irina Derevko flowers!"   
  
That's what she thought, but what she said, while struggling to keep her voice from squeaking, was, "Ok, anything in particular?" Then remembering her mother's comments from earlier, she jokingly suggested, "maybe, some impatiens?" Then she smiled and suggested "or maybe some roses?"  
  
"Roses?" Is that what she would want, he wondered? Then remembering back to the days when he gave her flowers, he said, "no, not roses. Send her tiger lilies." He always gave her tiger lilies. They always reminded him of her, wild and exotic.   
  
"Alright, I think they have them at....." Sydney started to suggest the florist that she could order them from, but was interrupted by her father.   
  
"Order them from here." He said as he wrote a name down on a piece of notepaper and handed it to Sydney.  
  
"What should I put on the card?" She asked.   
  
"No card," he instructed her. He knew that Irina would not need a card, to know who sent the flowers.   
  
Sydney knew that she'd have to fight with Kendall to do this, but no matter what it took, she was going to do it. "I'll take care of it right away." She told her father.   
  
As she was opening his office door, Jack called to her again. "And Sydney, I don't want you misunderstanding this either. You were right; confinement isn't good for someone like your mother. This isn't much, but I think it might help to get her to get over the mood she's in."   
  
"Right, we're just doing whatever it takes to keep the prisoner content." She told him. Then to herself she thought, "if he wants to believe that this jester is meaningless, I'm not going to argue with him."   
  
As Sydney again started to leave his office, Jack rose to file away the folder he was working on. He opened the filing cabinet drawer and while shutting it, he noticed that Sydney was now standing in front of him.  
  
"Something wrong?" He asked.  
  
She didn't answer him. Instead she placed her hands on his shoulders and pulling him down slightly she placed a kiss on his right cheek. He reached up and lightly touched the spot where she had kissed him.   
  
After delivering the kiss Sydney asked, "now, where's mine?"   
  
Jack was stunned. This type of emotion was strange to him. When he didn't respond, Sydney said, "Well? I'm waiting."   
  
She sounded just like her mother he thought, as he bent down and gently placed his lips on her forehead.  
  
After receiving her kiss, Sydney grabbed Jack's tie, near the knot. She yanked it and him, down towards her face. When she was sure she had his full attention she said sternly, "you owe me a childhood full of those and I plan on collecting at least one a day." She paused a second and then giving another short yank on his tied, she asked him, "Do you understand?"  
  
To her surprise, he smiled broadly at her and said, "Yes."   
  
"Good." Sydney looked at his smile and thought, "you do have a beautiful smile." Then touching the side of his face, she said, "and you owe me a few of those, also."  
  
"Ok." He said softly. He felt his heart rate increase. He looked down at the young women standing in front of him. Why after all he'd done to her and all that he hadn't done, why does she care for him?   
  
Sydney straighten and smoothed out his tie and said, "I'll go take care of this," indicting the notepaper he had given her.   
  
As she started to walk away, he called her name again. When she turned around, he said, "I love you."  
  
She smiled and said, "I know you do." And then she left his office.  
  
tbc... 


	8. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
After leaving her father, Sydney found Director Kendall in his office. She knocked on his door and asked if she could speak with him.   
  
"I need to get your authorization for something," she said as she entered and closed the door.  
  
"What is it?" He asked suspiciously.  
  
"It's about the prisoner," she said, trying to sound official.   
  
"Yes?" he said, still suspicious of what she wanted.   
  
"Well, I was just down talking to her and.... Well she's not having a very good day," Sydney told him.   
  
"I don't know about that," he thought to himself, "she was doing pretty good, from what could see."  
  
"I want to do something, that might help put her in a better mood." Sydney told him.   
  
"By doing what exactly?" Kendall asked.   
  
Sydney couldn't believe she was actually nervous about asking this, "I want to send her flowers."   
  
"Really?" Kendall leaned back in his chair. He then linked his fingers behind his head and said, "I don't remember anything in her amnesty agreement that said we had to accommodate her mood swings."  
  
"I knew this wasn't going to be easy," Sydney said to herself. She spent the next 15 minutes trying to convince him that if the prisoner was depressed, then she wasn't going to cooperate. As was evident by her lack of cooperation this afternoon.   
  
Kendall was going to give her another 30 seconds, to state her case, before throwing her out of his office. Without granting her request. Then he saw Jack Bristow. Jack was walking towards the tech center. He had stopped and looked over at the Director's office. He didn't look long, just long enough to make Kendall wonder whose idea the flowers actually were.   
  
While in the middle of trying to make another point, Kendall interrupted her and said, "Alright, Ms. Bristow if that's what you want, go ahead."  
  
"Thank you," she said surprised that out of nowhere he changed his mind.   
  
"But, this is the one and only time," He said, pointing his finger at her.   
  
"Right," Sydney replied as she got up to leave.   
  
As she was opening the door, he added, "After all, if we rewarded your mother every time she gives your father hell, we'd have a regular greenhouse growing down there. Wouldn't we?"  
  
She left without letting him see the smile that crossed her face.   
  
After leaving Kendall's office, Sydney called the florist that her father had recommended. Arrangements were made for the flowers to be delivered later in the day.   
  
It was after 6 P.M. when Sydney notified her father that they had arrived. By the time they were cleared through security it was almost 7 P.M. Most of the staff had left for the day. Jack was notified when flowers where on their way to the security section.   
  
Irina sat in her cell reading the same book she had already read three times. She had just finished her dinner when she heard the security gates open. She assumed it was the guard coming to remove her dinner tray, which she had already placed in the door receptacle.  
  
She looked up from her book when she realized she was hearing the footsteps of three guards. There were always three guards whenever the cell door was going to be opened.   
  
As always she was instructed to move to the far side of the cell and face the wall. Two guards entered, pointing automatic weapons at her turned back. The third guard entered with a object that appeared to be about two feet tall and was wrapped in a familiar green and gold paper.   
  
The object was placed on her desk. The guard removed the paper and took it with him. Once the guards were outside of the cell and the door was securely locked, Irina was told that she could resume her activity.   
  
She knew before turning around that they had just delivered her tiger lilies. The cell was filled with their aroma. Once she smelled the flowers, she realized why the green and gold paper looked familiar.  
  
When she knew for sure that the guards were out of sight, she walked over to flowers. There was no card or note attached. She lifted the vase to see the sticker she expected to find on the bottom. It confirmed what she already knew.   
  
She touched the leaves and breathed in more of the flower's aroma. She stood with her back to the security camera and her eyes closed tightly. She tried to repress the tears that were filing her eyes. She used the sleeve of her jacket to dry up them up. She then turned slowly to face the camera. Looking up into it, she smiled and said "Thank you." She knew he was watching.   
  
She was right. Jack had gone over to the monitor, to be sure there was no funny business as the flowers were being delivered. He didn't want to be responsible for anything going wrong. Irina was very resourceful. If she did something tricky during the delivery it would probable reflect poorly on Sydney. At least that's the excuse he gave to himself.   
  
His back stiffened when she turned and said thank you. He walked away, telling himself that he sent the flowers just to keep the prisoner content. It had nothing to do with the fact that after all their arguments he sent her flowers; whether the argument was his fault or not.   
  
Later that evening, when the lights where out, Irina laid in her bed, savoring the scent of the flowers and thinking to herself that maybe coming back wasn't a mistake.   
  
She also thought back to the day that she caught Jack changing that tire, and the real reason she was so mad.   
  
The End... sort of   
  
I have a companion piece that explains why Irina was mad enough to slash Bonnie Sullivan's car tires. 


End file.
